London couple lose four-year battle to demolish neighbours' kitchen over 48cm boundary breach as judge grants 'squatters' rights'

Susannah James, a Cambridge-educated tax company boss, and her husband Chris James purchased their Surbiton semi-detached home in 2021 and spent four years attempting to force the removal of a neighbouring kitchen wall that encroaches 48cm onto their land. Judge Ewan Paton ruled against them at the First-tier Tribunal's property arm, awarding neighbours Mina Sharma and Neil Deeley adverse possession — squatters' rights — over the contested strip. The kitchen extension dates to the early 1980s, long before any of the present owners took up residence, and dense vegetation had concealed the boundary for around four decades.

The Jameses sought a court order requiring the kitchen of the £600,000 neighbouring house to come down, but the judge found that Sharma and Deeley had held 'reasonable belief' the land was theirs.

Sharma and Deeley have owned their property since 2012 and were entirely unaware at the time of purchase that the kitchen crossed the boundary by 48cm.

The judge observed that Land Registry maps are rarely dead straight, making such minor boundary discrepancies virtually undetectable without a formal survey.